Lights

Chapter 4: Books

Sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping from the fringes of his hair. The push ups caused a burning ache to flow through his limbs, his arms screaming the most. Not because he was working out at all, but because he was about to reach his limit on exercise for the day. He wanted to push on, to at least touch the bar his father had set, but everything seemed far out of reach these days.

So many years since Cell. So many years since his father's sacrifice and decision to stay dead. Gohan occasionally thought about that choice, but he didn't dwell on it. For whatever reason, his father believed his presence brought trouble to the Earth and even if the logic itself didn't add up perfectly, Gohan couldn't exactly call him out. Not when they'd enjoyed four years of peace.

A peace that allowed Gohan to finally be what he wanted to be, to grow up as a normal child. Sure, he had past experiences that no normal Earthling had, but now that he was breaking into the teenage years, poking into puberty, he was glad he didn't have to run around the world training and stopping monsters or aliens or killer androids. The world was at peace. He was free to do what he wanted, even if that meant neglecting any form of martial arts training for the sake of scholarly pursuits.

The most he did was exercise to keep himself in shape. Piccolo had questioned him once when he went to visit his Namekian mentor. Once. When Gohan explained how this was what he wanted to do, Piccolo let him be on the matter. Much easier to deal with than any talk from Vegeta, that was for sure.

Either way, this was the path he had chosen and he was grateful to his dad for making it possible, even if it meant a sacrifice for the whole family.

An abrupt knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, followed by a blur of motion as the door opened immediately after and a hyper little boy ran into the room. Gohan blinked and groaned as his brother showed up in his vision, crouching down to meet Gohan's eyes as he wobbled in his push-ups.

"Hey, Gohan," Goten said. "Mom says it's bedtime."

A puff of a short breath escaped Gohan's lips. "She did, huh?"

Goten nodded. "Mmhmm. Time for bed."

When nothing else was said, Gohan forced a tight smile. "Well then, you should get ready for bed, shouldn't you?"

"You too," Goten said, a finger lifting up into the air and resting on his lips. "Mom said bedtime."

"Goten, I'm a little busy right now."

A flash of disappointment crossed Goten's eyes and Gohan did his best to ignore it. He only had a few more push-ups to go. He'd set a goal earlier and he wanted to reach it. The distraction from his brother was causing him to suffer a little, having to pause in his count and hold himself up like that, but now he could focus on his exercise. As long as Goten was quiet he could finish this without problems.

Movement from the corner of his eye indicated that Goten was at least no longer crouched in front of him. Whatever. Goten could go entertain himself for now. Or go to bed like their mom had apparently told him. He'd make it up to the little guy later. Being an older brother had a lot of perks. For the most part, it was fun and a joy. But it could also be an annoying pain in the rear.

A loud crash followed by Goten's whine came right on cue. Gohan jumped up from his push-ups, putting the exercise on hold immediately at the sound of his brother in pain. Quickly scanning his room revealed results that made him groan and cover his face.

"Goten, really?"

His little brother had apparently walked over to the large bookcase against the wall and somehow managed to pull it down. Thankfully, Goten seemed to have jumped away from the fallen case itself before he could be buried, but that didn't stop a pile of books from slamming on him. And now the kid was rubbing his head with tears only moments away.

"I didn't mean to," Goten whined. "I just wanted to find a book to read."

With a sigh, Gohan made his way over to the fallen bookshelf, leaning down to pick it back up and then kneeling down to start filing the books back where they belonged. "You could have asked me instead of knocking everything down."

"But you were busy," Goten mumbled, crawling closer to help Gohan clean up the mess. "I didn't want to bother you."

"Bother me?" Gohan frowned. "What makes you think you'd bother me?"

"Because… I..."

A hiccup interrupted his little brother and Gohan stopped his work to turn his full attention to the little guy. Goten had tears breaking out of his eyes now, slipping silently down his cheeks. Hiccups in an effort to not make it obvious because he couldn't take a full breath without risking full out sobs. Gohan knew what it felt like to hold back tears. And it stabbed him in the heart to somehow be responsible for causing his own brother such distress. Some big brother he was turning out to be.

"H-hey, Goten, don't cry," he stuttered, reaching out to pick up his brother and hug him close, kneeling on the floor and all. "I'm sorry. Did I snap at you? I didn't mean to come across like that, okay? I really just wanted to finish what I had started first."

Another hiccup, tears soaking his shoulder where Goten had buried his face. "I – I just wanted...big brother Gohan t-to read me a story."

"Oh," Gohan blinked and lifted his lips in a soft smile. "Oh, that's fine. We can do that. In fact, I can read you a story right now."

"R-really?"

Gohan nodded. "Yeah, really. Did you have one in mind? Is that the book you were trying to grab on your own?"

Pulling away from the hug, Goten sniffed, wiped his eyes, and crawled around on the floor looking for the book in question. "Uh huh. But I lost it."

Gohan watched his brother for a few moments. Watched the little guy crawling among the pile of books on the floor. Thankfully it was only books and there hadn't been anything breakable. Their mom did like to decorate shelves and such from time to time, so there was no telling when something besides books would be hiding on a bookshelf.

Little fingers grabbed and tossed the books one at a time. Goten would pick one up, study it closely, and then toss it into the pile again. Eventually, this led to him searching through the same group of books without even realizing it.

Gohan chuckled. "Hey, bro, how about we keep putting the books where they belong? It'll be easier to search for what you want when they're all nice and neat."

A pair of bright eyes turned to him, lighting up even more as Goten nodded. "Yeah! I can help clean!"

With a little laugh to himself, Gohan nodded and then focused on setting the books back in the shelf. Goten helped as much as he could, though Gohan did have to go behind his little brother and make sure everything was setting up nicely. Goten had a tendency to leave books crooked on the shelf or to just put them up without any care to setting them up next to other books.

Eventually, though, they managed to get through everything. Though the top shelves required Gohan standing up and Goten handing him books from the floor. He'd have to go back through the shelf and actually organize everything again, but for now things would work. He resisted the urge to mumble and complain about how his system for book organization was ruined. Goten was acting sensitive right now. He didn't want to hurt the little guy's feelings anymore than he already had.

Once everything was set, Gohan clapped his hands together and grinned down at his little brother. "All right, Goten. Which book did you want to read?"

"Uhm..." Goten drifted, eyes searching the shelf. "I don't see it..."

"Really? Even after -"

"Oh! There it is!" Goten hummed. "Why is it in a different spot?"

Feeling his eyebrow twitch, Gohan instead let his breath out in a rush and grabbed the book his brother had pointed at. "Because it felt like it."

"You mean it moved by itself?" Goten gasped. "I didn't know books could move on their own. Do they like trying to trick me?"

Setting a hand on the side of his head, Gohan rubbed at his hair. "Heh. Uhm. Probably? You're kinda fun to mess with."

"Nuh uh," Goten whined. "I am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"AM NOT!"

"Hah, okay, sorry, sorry," Gohan said, holding his hands up, biting back his laugh. Because it was too much fun messing with his younger brother. "Forget it. You want me to read this to you, right?"

Instantly forgetting the previous argument, Goten nodded, eyes shining with his excitement. "Yeah! Yeah! Please, Gohan?"

"Heh. You don't have to say please now, you know," Gohan mumbled. "I already said I was going to read you a bedtime story."

Eyes still shining, Goten nodded. Multiple times. He wasn't even dressed for bed yet. Well, they could do that after the story. Or, no, wait, that wasn't a good idea. What if Goten fell asleep? It'd be a pain to wake him up and get him to change and then hope he was tired enough to fall right back to sleep. Gohan knew how much Goten didn't like to stay asleep. He didn't want to risk such a situation with the hyper child…

"Uhm, Goten," he said. "Before we read, though, could you do one thing for me?"

"Huh?" Goten blinked, the shine dwindling. "What?"

"Get dressed for bed first."

"Aw, but Gohan, I wanna read -"

"Nope. Not until you're actually ready for bed."

The whine was immediate. Like the toddler he was, Goten stomped his foot and showed his obvious displeasure with this turn of events. Gohan crossed his arms and refused to budge. He was already taller and bigger than Goten, but his recent developments in puberty meant he was even bigger than before. In fact, he was also already at his mother's height, so he must have been pretty intimidating to his much younger brother. Maybe that was why Goten looked away, even though his whining continued to drag on.

Another presence appeared in the doorway, probably brought there by the poor behavior of her younger son. "Goten! I told you to get ready for bed!"

"I want a story!" Sitting down, crossing his arms and legs, Goten pouted in the face of discipline. "I don't want bed."

In an instant, Chi-Chi's mother status jumped to the forefront of her personality. Gohan instinctively took a step back when he sensed the aura. Goten didn't seem to notice or care. Poor kid would learn eventually, he supposed.

Their mom stomped across the room and grabbed Goten from the floor without a second thought. It was so easy to forget how strong his mom was, but the ease with which she picked Goten up and ignored all the struggles of the typical tantrum… Gohan gulped and kept his distance, lifting the book to distract himself from his mother's incoming discipline, even if it wasn't directed at him.

The movement must have grabbed her attention, because she held Goten, dropped her angry aura, and had a sweet tone in her voice when she spoke. "Were you still okay reading to him once he's ready for bed?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Gohan laughed awkwardly. "Dad used to read to me, didn't he?"

Chi-Chi's eyes widened, then softened with a light smile. "Once or twice, maybe. I think you read to him more often than anything."

Gohan chuckled and scratched at his cheek. "Hah, yeah, I do remember that much."

"It's the thought that counts," she said, shifting her hold on Goten. "Thank you."

He took a moment to try to decipher what the gratitude was for. He certainly hadn't done much to help with Goten, just saying he would keep his word, really. But then, maybe his mom was thankful for the memory Gohan had brought up. Because Gohan knew he was. It was harder to think of those now, harder to pull up the older memories of the family when they were all together and happy. Yet those memories were always precious, too precious to keep to yourself. Even if it brought a little pain along the way.

"Yeah," Gohan murmured. "No problem, Mom."